Here's How Much You Would Have Made Owning Aflac Stock In The Last 10 YearsHurricanes visit the Panthers in Eastern Conference actionHarris: Fine Gael ‘will gain seats’ amid further fragmentation of Irish politics
Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigration, Badr Abdelatty, has met with the ministry’s consular division to review progress on improving consular services for Egyptian citizens living abroad. The meeting focused on streamlining procedures and implementing digital solutions. Ambassador Tamim Khallaf, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Abdelatty emphasized the importance of enhanced communication with Egyptian expatriate communities to address their consular needs promptly and efficiently. He said that a digital transformation was crucial for transparency, increasing service efficiency, and simplifying transactions for Egyptian citizens. Abdelatty stressed that digital consular services were part of a wider plan to enhance the quality of these services. He also highlighted the need for training consular staff in modern technology to ensure high standards. The meeting also addressed ongoing efforts to improve consular services for Egyptians overseas, including the implementation of a comprehensive plan to digitalise these services. This digitalisation aims to develop the necessary infrastructure to facilitate transactions and save time for citizens living abroad. The plan includes establishing interactive online platforms where citizens can access consular services remotely, such as issuing official documents, renewing passports, and submitting service requests electronically. Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptian Expatriates, Tamer Kamal El-Meligy, updated Abdelatty on a new passport issuance process for Egyptians abroad. This new process, set to launch at several Egyptian diplomatic missions, will reduce passport processing times to just a few days, down from a previous timeframe of several months.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has yet to produce a certified vote tally for a single district almost a month after holding historic general elections . Then on Wednesday, a judge issued a ruling that sparked an outcry and threatened to further delay the certification process as the Jan. 2 swearing in looms. The judge, in response to a lawsuit, ordered Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission to count early votes following ID verification even if the postal address used to request those votes is different from the one in the general voter registration. “Contrary to what some actors in our society may have encouraged in public opinion, our legal framework in electoral matters is covered with guarantees of reliability, which leave no room for speculation or doubts about the validity of early votes,” Judge Raúl A. Candelario López wrote. The Nov. 21 lawsuit was filed by a dozen voters affiliated with the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, which won the gubernatorial race, according to preliminary results. The ruling noted that those voters alleged “their rights are being violated since they requested early voting, complied with all the requirements for it, and their votes are being subject to additional requirements without any legal basis.” The judge’s decision angered many including Karla Angleró, electoral commissioner for the opposing Popular Democratic Party, one of Puerto Rico’s two main parties, She said the party would appeal Wednesday’s ruling. In September, Angleró and electoral commissioners from other parties agreed that if they uncovered addresses that didn't match, officials would call people to confirm that they indeed requested an early vote to prevent any fraud. Angleró and other commissioners had recently requested that the elections commission investigate how more than 40 ballots with different residential addresses were requested from the same P.O. box in the southern coastal town of Santa Isabel. “We’ve been waiting for weeks,” she told reporters on Wednesday of the investigation. Judicial officials already are investigating allegations made before Nov. 2 about electoral crimes including people who said they received confirmations for early voting when they had made no such request. As those investigations continue, workers are certifying ballots with the aim to finish by Dec. 20 or 22, according to Jessika Padilla, alternate president for the elections commission. The aim was to finalize the district of the capital of San Juan on Wednesday, but that was pushed back to Sunday, she told reporters. Numerous obstacles have delayed the certification process, including an increase in write-in votes and a flurry of errors detected in bedside ballots, prompting all electoral commissioners to agree to start counting more than 60,000 such votes from scratch. The delay prompted electoral commissioners last week to temporarily halt the counting of ballots cast in a nonbinding referendum also held Nov. 2 on Puerto Rico’s political status so they could focus on election ballots. Local law dictates that the certification process must be completed by Dec. 31.
The first female to hold the position of minister for education, the former Fine Gael TD was a strong advocate for women’s rights. President Michael D Higgins said: “A lifelong committed feminist, Gemma Hussey was a passionate advocate and inspiration for the vitally important increase in the number of women serving in our political system. “As a dedicated and effective government minister, she set a stirring example of the key role which must be held by women in politics. “In introducing aural and oral exams and establishing the National Parents Council as minister for education, she put in place lasting reforms which have benefited all those who have grown up in Ireland in the succeeding decades. “Throughout her career, she remained true to her principles and advocated for social reforms at a time when not all of the causes she supported were popular with all parts of Irish society.” President Higgins said that after her departure from the political front line, Ms Hussey remained an “incisive commentator and an always valuable voice on the political system”. “May I express my deepest sympathies to Gemma’s children Rachel, Ruth and Andrew, and to all her family, friends and former colleagues,” he added. Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris called her a “trailblazer”. He noted she was Fine Gael’s first female cabinet member. “Gemma was a passionate progressive for woman’s rights, education reform and Ireland’s place in the world, particularly the potential of European Union membership,” he said. “Gemma was a TD for my own native Wicklow, where her long service and delivery is remembered to this day. “But above all Gemma was a patriot, a Fine Gael stalwart and a kind and generous person. I was one of the people lucky to enjoy her company, her advice and her good humour. “To all of her family, colleagues and friends, l am truly sorry for your loss. May she rest in peace.” Current Education minister Norma Foley also paid tribute, describing Ms Hussey as a “pioneering presence for women in politics”. “She was a courageous and determined politician who showed the way for women at the highest level in politics,” said the Fianna Fail minister. “She was highly regarded for the work she did in steering and guiding the development of the Irish education system.”Log cabin kitchens are the coziest style to introduce to your home in 2025 – and these 3 spaces offer plenty of inspiration
Dear readers, Thursday is Thanksgiving. It seems like just moments ago it was Fourth of July, but, alas, here we are, on the precipice of December, which means blink and it will be 2025. But, instead of losing our minds about the fact that time seems to be speeding up, I think it’s always a worthwhile and grounding exercise to remember what you feel grateful for, always of course but traditionally in November. One thing I’m grateful for? You! The reader! Whoever you are! This column wouldn’t exist without you! I’m also grateful for the messages you send, whether you agree with me or not. So here are a few of your recent responses to my columns. Keep emailing me! I love all the messages you send! Even the mean ones! Regarding the in-laws who wanted the heat so high , I got several responses. Dear Lizzy, Just a comment to the writer who didn’t like her in-laws turning up the heat. Older people often have vascular health problems and can get hypothermic. I learned to tolerate a bit higher heat (more in the 75-degree range) and have blankets and heating pads available. An extra space heater in the bedroom is good. L. Lizzy, I am obviously desperate for reading material but what a terrible piece of advice ... to get a heat pump. Thank God you moved out of Corvallis. T. Regarding my math in the post about election panic ... Dear Lizzy, I’m 44. You’re 42. You stating that this is your 8th presidential election had me a little confused. Doing the count: Year 2000 is number one. 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 ... By my math, that makes 2024 the 7th presidential election in which we have both been eligible to vote. A. Dear readers, she was right. My math was wrong and I fixed the post. And finally, on the topic of taking a trip with an uncle who has difficult political beliefs ... Hi, I believe the best thing for all is to politely decline the invitation. To accept with all this incompatibility is rude for all concerned. N. And yes, there are still more about my most controversial column yet, the one about opening kids' birthday presents at parties . Feel free to send me more thoughts on the matter but I don’t think I can do another column about this for at least a few months. Still, I’m reading your messages, trust me. Thanks again for all your responses. I hope you get at least a couple days off to eat something delicious with people you love! Good luck! Lizzy Have a burning question? Send me an email at lacker@oregonian.com ! Or, if you want to ask me a question with total anonymity, use this Google form . Read more Why Tho? here. More Why Tho? Why Tho? Sober hosts feel violated when friends sneak alcohol into birthday party Why Tho? Must I sweat in my own home when chilly in-laws come for a visit? Why Tho? This election is making me really scared. What can I do to keep it together?International Court of Justice to begin hearings in landmark climate change case started by Pacific Islander students
You knew it was coming, didn’t you? Baseball’s reigning Evil Empire took the initiative this week, signing another high-profile starting pitcher and giving its fans something additional to be grateful for during Thanksgiving week (besides, of course, those shots of the Commissioner’s Trophy being shown off here, there and everywhere throughout Southern California). And after the bombshell announcement Tuesday night, that the Dodgers had signed Blake Snell , the howls could be heard throughout the land. The Dodgers are making a mockery of the sport. The rest of baseball can’t compete. They’re signing everybody! And how are the Cincinnatis and Pittsburghs and Colorados of the sport able to compete with an organization that not only brings in boatloads of money – and has created a second source of runaway revenue through its ties to Japan – but isn’t interested in hoarding it? Shouldn’t the next step be a salary cap to restrain this franchise’s runaway spending? Oh, stop it. Competitive balance is not an issue in baseball, period. Four different teams have won the last four World Series, and nine different fan bases have celebrated championships in the last 12 years. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in ... checks notes ... a quarter of a century. (That would be the New York Yankees, the first Evil Empire, in 1999-2000.) Meanwhile, Kansas City, Detroit and Baltimore have all risen from rebuilding to contention in the last couple of seasons. Milwaukee and Cleveland, both smaller markets, were legitimate threats as this past postseason began. And the Padres, long squeezed between Mexico to their south, the Imperial Valley to their east, the Pacific to their west and L.A. to their north, just might have been the second-best team in baseball in 2024 and, may we remind you, had the Dodgers by the neck going into Game 4 of their National League Division Series . Nor are they going away, even with some payroll retrenching in the wake of controlling owner Peter Seidler’s death. (But, nope, still no parade.) Most of the caterwauling, of course, comes from those whose favorite teams were either outbid or declined to spend. Trust me, no ownership in Major League Baseball can claim poverty, even with the cable TV issues that have scrambled some teams’ finances. Yes, big-market teams start with a financial advantage. Yes, Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy and the cord-cutting revolution have factored in. And yes, the Dodgers and Yankees have insulated themselves to a degree by owning their own cable networks. So, maybe, give them some credit for intelligence and foresight? Front Office Sports reported that deferrals on Snell’s reported five-year, $182 million deal, said to be $60 million, would push the Dodgers closer to the $1 billion mark in deferred money owed to five players. Shohei Ohtani’s whopping $680 million deferred on a $700 million contract signed last winter enabled the Dodgers to add additional pieces. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts also have chunks of deferred money in their contracts – as does, interestingly, Teoscar Hernández on his one-year 2024 deal with the Dodgers. That would make that contract even more of a bargain than we thought. And this is an undisputable fact: Salary caps and other payroll-limiting mechanisms put no limits on front office creativity and ingenuity. It’s been pretty well established that in Guggenheim Baseball’s 13-year ownership of the Dodgers, especially after Mark Walter’s organization corrected the problems of the Frank McCourt era and particularly after Friedman arrived from Tampa Bay in 2015, the Dodgers have a smart, savvy organization whose advantages go way beyond their cash on hand. (And yes, as I noted on social media Tuesday night, we do tease them about sometimes trying too hard to be the smartest guys in the room. But most of the time they are, anyway.) Assuming everyone stays healthy – and as we saw throughout baseball in 2024, that’s a tall ask – what will the Dodgers’ rotation look like in 2025? They’ll have left-hander Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who was one of the victims of a soft free agent market last spring and didn’t sign with the San Francisco Giants until March 19. He got off to a dreadful start as a result but was lights out from the start of July. In 14 starts he was 5-0 (and his team 12-2 in those starts), with a 1.23 ERA, an opponents’ batting average of .123, an 0.78 WHIP, five double-digit strikeout games and a 3.8-1 strikeout to walk ratio, and a complete-game no-hitter, an achievement for someone denigrated as a five-and-dive pitcher. Maybe those final three months spurred him to sign early this time. It’s almost certain the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation from the start of the season, and right now they have seven possibilities and who knows what they do from here. They’ll have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher. Tyler Glasnow, Snell’s former teammate in Tampa Bay, will be back, as will Tony Gonsolin in his return from Tommy John surgery. Dustin May, essentially inactive since May of 2023, will return, and Clayton Kershaw is expected to re-sign and has indicated he plans to retire a Dodger. Is there room for free agent Jack Flaherty, last season’s major trade deadline acquisition? Or fellow free agent Walker Buehler, who closed out Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees, following a sometimes spotty comeback from injury? And the wild card might be Roki Sasaki, who will be posted by his Japanese team this winter. The Dodgers had long been considered the favorites to land him, and even Snell’s signing might not change that. Then again, the way the 2024 Dodgers went through pitchers because of injuries – 40 for the season, including 12 starting pitchers – shouldn’t they be tempted to grab every reasonably healthy arm they can and sort it out as they go along? But this is, and should be, the bottom line: Every fan in every sport wants the people running their favorite team to care as much about winning as they do. In a lot of cities, with a lot of teams, that’s really hard to envision. In Dodger Stadium, it’s not hard at all. And if they’re going to be the new Evil Empire, why not just lean into it and have Dieter Ruehle play “The Imperial March” (i.e., Darth Vader’s Theme) before every game? jalexander@scng.comMILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo was available for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Washington Wizards Saturday night after missing one game with swelling in his left knee. Antetokounmpo sat out the Bucks' 106-103 NBA Cup victory at Miami on Tuesday. The two-time MVP had been listed as probable with tendinopathy in his right patellar tendon. “He's good,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game. Antetokounmpo entered Saturday as the league's leading scorer at 32.4 points per game. He ranked fifth in rebounds (11.9) and 20th in assists (6.4). ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba The Associated Press
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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo was available for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Washington Wizards Saturday night after missing one game with swelling in his left knee. Antetokounmpo sat out the Bucks' 106-103 NBA Cup victory at Miami on Tuesday. The two-time MVP had been listed as probable with tendinopathy in his right patellar tendon. “He's good,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game. Antetokounmpo entered Saturday as the league's leading scorer at 32.4 points per game. He ranked fifth in rebounds (11.9) and 20th in assists (6.4). ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba The Associated PressI'm Sad Reindeer Games Isn't Happening This Year, But There's One Fan-Suggested Big Brother Series I Still Hope Does HappenYou knew it was coming, didn’t you? Baseball’s reigning Evil Empire took the initiative this week, signing another high-profile starting pitcher and giving its fans something additional to be grateful for during Thanksgiving week (besides, of course, those shots of the Commissioner’s Trophy being shown off here, there and everywhere throughout Southern California). And after the bombshell announcement Tuesday night, that the Dodgers had signed Blake Snell , the howls could be heard throughout the land. The Dodgers are making a mockery of the sport. The rest of baseball can’t compete. They’re signing everybody! And how are the Cincinnatis and Pittsburghs and Colorados of the sport able to compete with an organization that not only brings in boatloads of money – and has created a second source of runaway revenue through its ties to Japan – but isn’t interested in hoarding it? Shouldn’t the next step be a salary cap to restrain this franchise’s runaway spending? Oh, stop it. Competitive balance is not an issue in baseball, period. Four different teams have won the last four World Series, and nine different fan bases have celebrated championships in the last 12 years. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in ... checks notes ... a quarter of a century. (That would be the New York Yankees, the first Evil Empire, in 1999-2000.) Meanwhile, Kansas City, Detroit and Baltimore have all risen from rebuilding to contention in the last couple of seasons. Milwaukee and Cleveland, both smaller markets, were legitimate threats as this past postseason began. And the Padres, long squeezed between Mexico to their south, the Imperial Valley to their east, the Pacific to their west and L.A. to their north, just might have been the second-best team in baseball in 2024 and, may we remind you, had the Dodgers by the neck going into Game 4 of their National League Division Series . Nor are they going away, even with some payroll retrenching in the wake of controlling owner Peter Seidler’s death. (But, nope, still no parade.) Most of the caterwauling, of course, comes from those whose favorite teams were either outbid or declined to spend. Trust me, no ownership in Major League Baseball can claim poverty, even with the cable TV issues that have scrambled some teams’ finances. Yes, big-market teams start with a financial advantage. Yes, Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy and the cord-cutting revolution have factored in. And yes, the Dodgers and Yankees have insulated themselves to a degree by owning their own cable networks. So, maybe, give them some credit for intelligence and foresight? Front Office Sports reported that deferrals on Snell’s reported five-year, $182 million deal, said to be $60 million, would push the Dodgers closer to the $1 billion mark in deferred money owed to five players. Shohei Ohtani’s whopping $680 million deferred on a $700 million contract signed last winter enabled the Dodgers to add additional pieces. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts also have chunks of deferred money in their contracts – as does, interestingly, Teoscar Hernández on his one-year 2024 deal with the Dodgers. That would make that contract even more of a bargain than we thought. And this is an undisputable fact: Salary caps and other payroll-limiting mechanisms put no limits on front office creativity and ingenuity. It’s been pretty well established that in Guggenheim Baseball’s 13-year ownership of the Dodgers, especially after Mark Walter’s organization corrected the problems of the Frank McCourt era and particularly after Friedman arrived from Tampa Bay in 2015, the Dodgers have a smart, savvy organization whose advantages go way beyond their cash on hand. (And yes, as I noted on social media Tuesday night, we do tease them about sometimes trying too hard to be the smartest guys in the room. But most of the time they are, anyway.) Assuming everyone stays healthy – and as we saw throughout baseball in 2024, that’s a tall ask – what will the Dodgers’ rotation look like in 2025? They’ll have left-hander Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who was one of the victims of a soft free agent market last spring and didn’t sign with the San Francisco Giants until March 19. He got off to a dreadful start as a result but was lights out from the start of July. In 14 starts he was 5-0 (and his team 12-2 in those starts), with a 1.23 ERA, an opponents’ batting average of .123, an 0.78 WHIP, five double-digit strikeout games and a 3.8-1 strikeout to walk ratio, and a complete-game no-hitter, an achievement for someone denigrated as a five-and-dive pitcher. Maybe those final three months spurred him to sign early this time. It’s almost certain the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation from the start of the season, and right now they have seven possibilities and who knows what they do from here. They’ll have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher. Tyler Glasnow, Snell’s former teammate in Tampa Bay, will be back, as will Tony Gonsolin in his return from Tommy John surgery. Dustin May, essentially inactive since May of 2023, will return, and Clayton Kershaw is expected to re-sign and has indicated he plans to retire a Dodger. Is there room for free agent Jack Flaherty, last season’s major trade deadline acquisition? Or fellow free agent Walker Buehler, who closed out Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees, following a sometimes spotty comeback from injury? And the wild card might be Roki Sasaki, who will be posted by his Japanese team this winter. The Dodgers had long been considered the favorites to land him, and even Snell’s signing might not change that. Then again, the way the 2024 Dodgers went through pitchers because of injuries – 40 for the season, including 12 starting pitchers – shouldn’t they be tempted to grab every reasonably healthy arm they can and sort it out as they go along? But this is, and should be, the bottom line: Every fan in every sport wants the people running their favorite team to care as much about winning as they do. In a lot of cities, with a lot of teams, that’s really hard to envision. In Dodger Stadium, it’s not hard at all. And if they’re going to be the new Evil Empire, why not just lean into it and have Dieter Ruehle play “The Imperial March” (i.e., Darth Vader’s Theme) before every game? jalexander@scng.com